Mics popping and sounding bad

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scgstuff

DJ Extraordinaire
Jun 30, 2017
754
1,501
Central Texas
garrisentertainment.com
Worked a fundraiser on Saturday and everything was pretty much great! Music, MC'ing, etc went perfectly (we are already booked for next year.). The only issue we had was when the live auctioneer took over, the sound was horrible! The louder he got, the more the mic popped and sounded...well.....weird! We have the GTD G-787 mics (I know, cheap mics....cheap results) but they have always sounded good. I tried turning down the gain and up the volume, vice versa, adjusted all the EQs up and down, added a HPF, tried different FX settings on the mixer, etc. I have not looked at the setting on the mic receiver, maybe it can be adjusted. Why would someone basically yelling (he was a live auctioneer) into the mic cause it to pop and make noises?
 
What speakers were you using....could be the high end of them... was it like a rattle type pop... my wireless mics sound fantastic at normal speaking voice...but the minute i get a little loud there is a rattly pop sound on my speakers..... so i had a assumed that was my issue....interested to hear what others have to say

cc
 
Occasionally i have had speakers who sound terrible , sometimes the "s" sound coming through too noticeably or just speaking too loud or just too low or too far away with their mouth from the mic.
 
The 'popping' could be the mic too close the the users mouth. Too much gain and/or volume would generally run into feedback. Too 'loud' and you risk popping speakers - though I think you would recognize this before you did it and most modern speakers are protected against this.
 
I'm still going to go with the "cheap mics....cheap results. Companding and squelching circuitry in the lower end gear, just isn't up to the level of the better ones. My guess is the with a higher dynamic range (loud speaker), it just coulding keep up.
 
The 'popping' could be the mic too close the the users mouth. Too much gain and/or volume would generally run into feedback. Too 'loud' and you risk popping speakers - though I think you would recognize this before you did it and most modern speakers are protected against this.
He did have the mic right at his mouth and was (OK, this is Texas...) hollerin' into it.
 
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Worked a fundraiser on Saturday and everything was pretty much great! Music, MC'ing, etc went perfectly (we are already booked for next year.). The only issue we had was when the live auctioneer took over, the sound was horrible! The louder he got, the more the mic popped and sounded...well.....weird! We have the GTD G-787 mics (I know, cheap mics....cheap results) but they have always sounded good. I tried turning down the gain and up the volume, vice versa, adjusted all the EQs up and down, added a HPF, tried different FX settings on the mixer, etc. I have not looked at the setting on the mic receiver, maybe it can be adjusted. Why would someone basically yelling (he was a live auctioneer) into the mic cause it to pop and make noises?

I believe the GTD has a mic pad built into the transmitter. Anytime you have a very loud speaker you'll need to pad down the transmitter so you don't be overdriven at the source. This is not a "cheap mic" issue. The same thing happens on other brands as well.
 
I believe the GTD has a mic pad built into the transmitter. Anytime you have a very loud speaker you'll need to pad down the transmitter so you don't be overdriven at the source. This is not a "cheap mic" issue. The same thing happens on other brands as well.
Thanks! So, needs to be changed on the mic itself. My trailer of gear is at the old house right now (new house has an angled driveway that the trailer was bottoming out on. Getting a new hitch that will raise the hitch ball later today and pull the gear back here. Hopefully no more bottoming out.

Will be setting up the gear and testing once it is back here. Will check that out.
 
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Thanks! So, needs to be changed on the mic itself. My trailer of gear is at the old house right now (new house has an angled driveway that the trailer was bottoming out on. Getting a new hitch that will raise the hitch ball later today and pull the gear back here. Hopefully no more bottoming out.

Will be setting up the gear and testing once it is back here. Will check that out.

I usually keep my mics and body packs padded down. It's much easier to push the gain up at the mixer than it is to get a loud speaker/singer that overdrives your transmitter.
 
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I'm still going to go with the "cheap mics....cheap results. Companding and squelching circuitry in the lower end gear, just isn't up to the level of the better ones. My guess is the with a higher dynamic range (loud speaker), it just coulding keep up.
I agree, cheap mic's can't generally handle a lot of input like someone with a strong voice. Could also have something to do with the transmitter and the location or a weak batery charge on the mic.
 
Most pro wireless mics have a gain control or sensitivity setting on the transmitter unit. My guess is that the auctioneer was too loud and was clipping at the transmitter. Lowering the gain at the receiver would do nothing to fix this. I once also had a guy with a lot of rings hold a mic and as he changed his grip, you could hear the rings hit the mic. This was annoying to me but probably not as bad as the problem you described.
 
Cheap mics have cheap elements so, gain control or not the dynamic performance just isn't there when the going gets tough. There's nothing you can do at the mixer to fix a sh***y mic.. There's also the possibility that all your processing at the digital mixer was making the issue even worse. Depending on where across the spectrum his voice lies - you may have over compressed an already crappy signal and EQ'd him into narrow notch of his most resonate frequencies.
 
Cheap mics have cheap elements so, gain control or not the dynamic performance just isn't there when the going gets tough. There's nothing you can do at the mixer to fix a sh***y mic.. There's also the possibility that all your processing at the digital mixer was making the issue even worse. Depending on where across the spectrum his voice lies - you may have over compressed an already crappy signal and EQ'd him into narrow notch of his most resonate frequencies.
Since I don't have a digital mixer, I am assuming that wasn't the issue. And I don't have anything compressing the signal intentionally and no 31 band eq or anything else, so my assumption is, those didn't have a part in it. I had a GTD 787 with a handheld mic (first of the 4 mics) into channel 1 (others 2-4, not the mix signal) into a Yamaha MG12-XU to Yorkville YX18SPs subs to Presonus Air 12s on the high pass output of the sub.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
... GTD 787 with a handheld mic (first of the 4 mics)...

What day is trash day in your neighborhood? Put these on the curb, or give them to your children to play with.
That's real advice - not a slam. No sympathy here. These are TOYS !! You have got to be kidding me. These belong in your family room for your kids to do karaoke with. They do not belong anywhere near an event where someone is actually depending on the sound quality to raise money. (The single most important part of their event.)

You have 4 RF handheld mics for about the price of a single SM57 - WTF did you think was going to happen?
A professional quad mic system costs about $8,000 (Receiver, transmitters and directional antenna distribution.) You paid only 1.5% of that and deployed these toys to do the same job. The only advice I can give you is to Get Real. Do the math: each component in that system is about the same cost as a utility grade XLR cable. Does that sound like quality electronics?

Your customer will talk about their event and the crappy microphone sound. What will they think of you should they later learn that a professional quality mic with directional antenna can be rented for about $85? Will they hire the DJ that stuck then with GTD audio again?
 
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The high-price-brand-snobs are out in force again.[emoji1] GTD wireless mic systems get 3-5 star reviews more than 90% of the time on pretty much every site on which they’re sold. Are they Sennheiser’s?... No. Do they work as described and deliver an accurate vocal signal? Yes they do. Do they experience an occasional mic failure. Yes... you can read the reviews. It’s infrequent, but it happens. I can also glean from the reviews that support isn’t very good when you call to report a problem. I have two GTD wireless mic systems, but not a 787. With my B33, I had a guy using it who had a little too much to drink, who thought it would be funny to “drop the mic”, so he THREW it down on the hard wooden dance floor. The GTD mic still worked fine, and there was no cosmetic damage either. Nobody thought it was funny either, especially not me.

Learning how to best setup your microphones is just a normal thing. It took me a while, and going through a few different configurations before I got mine working the way I like. If the other 3 mics are working, but you have one that doesn’t work well on any frequency, you might have a defective mic. Just buy a new one and move on.
 
Your customer will talk about their event and the crappy microphone sound. What will they think of you should they later learn that a professional quality mic with directional antenna can be rented for about $85? Will they hire the DJ that stuck then with GTD audio again?

Actually, I have heard from them several times and already have them reserved for next year. Last time I heard from them was at tonight's homecoming dance we were DJ'ing. They told me that they loved everything we did and couldn't wait for next year. As far as the popping and bad sound, I could hear it, the auctioneer asked me if he heard something, no one else seemed to hear it. The good thing, I have had 1 other fundraiser and 3 weddings booked off this event (1 was the son of the organizer....) So, I am glad people they talked to asked about their experience.
 
Actually, I have heard from them several times and already have them reserved for next year. Last time I heard from them was at tonight's homecoming dance we were DJ'ing. They told me that they loved everything we did and couldn't wait for next year. As far as the popping and bad sound, I could hear it, the auctioneer asked me if he heard something, no one else seemed to hear it. The good thing, I have had 1 other fundraiser and 3 weddings booked off this event (1 was the son of the organizer....) So, I am glad people they talked to asked about their experience.

If your customer is your own parent - well, I stand corrected.
Give those mics to your baby sister.
 
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The high-price-brand-snobs are out in force again.[emoji1] GTD wireless mic systems get 3-5 star reviews more than 90% of the time on pretty much every site on which they’re sold. Are they Sennheiser’s?... No. Do they work as described and deliver an accurate vocal signal? Yes they do. Do they experience an occasional mic failure. Yes... you can read the reviews. It’s infrequent, but it happens. I can also glean from the reviews that support isn’t very good when you call to report a problem. I have two GTD wireless mic systems, but not a 787. With my B33, I had a guy using it who had a little too much to drink, who thought it would be funny to “drop the mic”, so he THREW it down on the hard wooden dance floor. The GTD mic still worked fine, and there was no cosmetic damage either. Nobody thought it was funny either, especially not me.

Learning how to best setup your microphones is just a normal thing. It took me a while, and going through a few different configurations before I got mine working the way I like. If the other 3 mics are working, but you have one that doesn’t work well on any frequency, you might have a defective mic. Just buy a new one and move on.

You can make all the excuses you want but your mics cost less than a week's worth of Gaff tape, and typically end up in the same place.
Sooner or later you're lucky streak with Mr. Microphobe will end. It's never you that gets hurt - it's the poeple who went to great length to try and raise money, or have the perfect ceremony, etc. and got duped by a bait and switch DJ who called himself professional and showed up with a TOY microphone.